Luepolan
General information The Luepolan language is a constructed language that serves as the official language of Luepola, a country located in Eastern Europe. The language was constructed by various scholars, appointed and paid by the new government to create a new language to unite the various people-groups of the country. Construction of the language began in the late 16th century. The language is primarily inspired by and based on English, but also takes mild cues from Spanish, German, and Russian. Phonology Consonants Vowels Scripts Luepolan can be written in both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. There are numerous differences in each alphabet from the various other alphabets within the scripts used. In the vast majority of this article, the Latin script will be used. Latin Alphabet *'C': The letter C is pronounced as the digraph 'ch' (IPA: /tʃ/). *'J': The letter J is pronounced as the English digraph 'zh' (IPA: /ʒ/). *'Q': The letter Q is used to represent the sound of the Russian X (IPA: /x/), represented in English most often as 'kh'. *'X': The letter X is pronounced as the digraph 'sh' (IPA: /ʃ/). *'Y': The letter Y now makes the sound of the English digraph 'th' (IPA: θ and ð). Cyrillic Alphabet *'Е': The letter Е now represents /ɛ/, taking the place of Э. *'Ё': The letter Ё now represents /jɛ/, taking the place of E. *'Э': The letter Э now represents /jɒ/, taking the place of Ë. *'Ь': The letter Ь now represents /h/. *'Њ': The letter Њ now represents /θ/. Note: In the Latin script, /j/ is represented by an acute accent mark (´), paired with the vowel A, E, O, or U, to produce the /j/ in combination with the desired vowel. The accent mark over an I merely indicates a change in the I sound. This system is not present in Cyrillic Luepolan, as Cyrillic already has separate letters representing these sounds. Phonotactics Syllables To be written. Stress Stress in Luepolan is generally free; it has little to no impact on the meaning of a word. In fact, most dialectical differences in the Luepolan language are based on the location of stress within a word. It is, however, common practice in all dialects to put stress on the í, if there is one in the word. Pronunciation In addition to regular alphabetic rules, two unique pronunciations are present. The first deals with the letters 'i' and 'í'. If an 'i' appears directly after an 'í', the 'i' is pronounced as /ə/, rather than /ɪ/; if the order is reversed, the two are both pronounced either /ɪ/ or /i/, depending on dialect, with a very brief pause in the middle. The second deals with the Luepolan digraph ae. If the letters 'a' and 'e' are placed together, they together represent a single /æ/ sound. The Æ ligature is used for this sound in some communities; however, it is not common nor official to do so. Diphthongs Luepolan makes use of two diphthongs; 'ai' and 'ei'. While the a normally represents /ɑ/, the 'a' in the digraph 'ai' represents /a/, thus creating /aɪ/; similarly, the 'e' in 'ei' represents /e/ to create /eɪ/, rather than /ɛ/. Grammar Verbs Conjugation Verbs are conjugated based on tense. The Luepolan language has four tenses: Past, Present, Future, and the base infinitive, which is also used as a gerund. Each tense has a suffix tied to it that is added to a root verb to indicate the tense. Particles Luepolan makes use of a system of particles wherein a short word is placed after the verb to denote its mood or aspect. The suffix -n is placed at the end of any particle to denote negativity (except núl, which itself denotes negativity). Nouns & Pronouns Luepolan nouns are declined according to number, and are declined slightly differently when used in the genitive. Number There are three number forms in Luepolan: Singular, Paucal, and Plural. Singular, as in English, is used specifically to refer to one item or entity. Paucal is used to refer to a small number of items and/or entities. Plural is used to refer to a larger amount. There is no exact number at which the paucal becomes the plural, and it usually depends on the item in question and its context. For example, a soldier who has only 20 bullets would be said to have 20 "balist''en''", as that is a small quantity for a soldier, whereas a man who owns 20 cars would be said to have 20 "otokart''es''", as that is a large number of cars for a man to own. Another example can be used with currency: A man who makes $100 a year would be said to make 100 "dolur''en''", as that is a small amount given the context; however, a child who owns $100 would be said to have 100 "dolur''es''", as $100 is generally considered a large amount of money for a child. Pronouns also roughly follow this system; however, there are some notable differences. Pronouns Luepolan pronouns are as follows: In addition to the English nominative pronoun types, Luepolan also has the pronoun 'Ju', to refer to a Holy figure. It is uncommon in regular speech and is used mainly in Holy scriptures and texts such as the Bible or Qu'ran. Unlike English, Luepolan does not distinguish case; thus, whereas English has subject pronouns and object pronouns (e.g. he vs. him, she vs. her, we vs. us), Luepolan simply has nominative pronouns. Also unlike English, which uses 'They/Them' as the plural form for most pronouns, Luepolan's numeric/possessive system for nouns carries over into pronouns; thus, Luepolan has sepatate words for they (referring to a group of men- Huén/s), they (referring to a group of women - Xuén/s), and they (referring to miltiple inanimate objects Tuén/s). An exception to this rule is 'Lu', its plural and paucal forms, and 'Mu'. 'Lu' on its own, which, by regular Luepolan grammar standards, would translate to 'I/me', translates to a form of 'we/us' that denotes inclusiveness of the addressee, while leaving ambiguity as to whether it is paucal or plural, on the grounds that the addressee, included in the group, would already know the number. 'Luén' and 'Lués' translate to forms of 'we/us' that denote exclusiveness of the addressee, in addition to their grammatical numbers. 'Mu', which is the actual Luepolan word for 'I/me', has no plural or paucal form. Pronouns use the same possessive system as regular nouns. Possessive Luepolan contains a possessive system wherein the noun being possessed by the other is marked, rather than the noun with possession over the other one. Each pronoun has its own possession affix that is attached to the noun the pronoun has possession over. In addition to pronouns, all nouns share the same affix. Each affix has a singular, paucal, and plural form. When a possessed noun is used with a pronoun, it is common practice to drop the pronoun altogether, as the possessive article itself can convey the possesser. *Representative of all nouns. Adjectives Luepolan adjectives function in a fairly simple manner. Adjectives may be placed before or after the noun which it describes, although placing them before is the most common practice. Adjectives must agree with noun being modified in number; thus, there are three possible endings for any adjective. The endings are shown below. Vocabulary Example text Category:Languages